Molding-board.



w. SELLERS.

MOLDING BOARD.

APPLICATION HLED AUG.14| 912.

I 1,174,625; Patented Mar. 7,1916.-

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W SELLERS.

MOLDING BOARD APPLICATION FILED AUG-14,1912.

1,174,625. Patented Mar. 7,1916.

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WILFBED SELLERS, OF ELWOOD, INDIANA.

MOLDING-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 7 1916.

Application filed August 14, 1912. Serial No. 715,012.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WVILFRED SELLERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elwood, in the county of Madison and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Molding-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in molding-boards to be used in the construction of kitchen cabinets; and its object is to provide a board adapted to slide out into position for use and to be moved back in like manner at other times, and to so construct such a molding-board without the necessity of a sheet-metal cover to protect the body, made out of wood, from warping, and also to provide a strong, durable, and inexpensive board structure.

I accomplish the above and other objects of the invention by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a kitchen cabinet, showing my improved moldingboard. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the board removed from the cabinet. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of one of the bolts used in the board. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of a portion of the board,

showing a part of one of the slats broken away and in section, and Fig. 6 is a detail in vertical sectionof a modified form of my board.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

7 is a kitchen cabinet of any suitable and usual form, between the base and cabinet superstructure thereof my improved molding-board is mounted and is adapted to he slid in and out of a prescribed space where by any warping of the board would seriously interfere with its sliding adjustments.

My improved molding-board is formed of a plurality of wooden strips 8, having tongues 9 and grooves 10 formed at their opposite edges and adapted to interlock when the strips are assembled to form the continuous board. The groove 10 is deeper than the extension of the tongue 9, and the lower portion 11 of the edge of each strip 8 below the groove 10 is cut back or inwardly of the strip more than the upper portion 12 of the same edge whereby, when the portions 12 are in contactwith the edge of the adjacent strip above its tongue 9, the lower part 11 will not be in contact with its adjacent edge of the strip next to it. The consequence is that when all of the joints between the several strips comprising a complete molding-board are tight and closed at those portions above the tongues and grooves the edges below the tongues and grooves are open and the tongues are not at the bottoms of the grooves.

As the top of a molding-board thus constructed is the portion which is most subject to moisture due to the culinary operations on it, this top surface will expand and swell as a result, more than the lower surface of the board, and if the joint between the plurality of strips was tight below as well as above the expansion of the upper surface of the board would cause it to warp and arch in that direction. But by providing open spaces between the strips in the lower portions of the joints no leverage is aiforded below by the contact of the edges of the several strips there to cause warping when the upper surface is increased in area by expansion due to moisture and the board maintains its flat condition. Shrinkage of the board may be taken up by tightening the nuts of the bolts.

The several strips, tongued and grooved as above described and assembled to form a molding-board, are secured together by means of a plurality of bolts 13, here shown as five in number, but a larger or smaller number of bolts may be used, if desired.

To compensate automatically in the lengths of the bolts 13 to suit the variations in the width of the board due to expansion and contraction of the wooden strips, I prefer to make the bolts out of spring-tempered steel and to slightly corrugate or bend them back and forth, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, whereby, they will be lengthened by drawing out the bends or kinks by the expansion of the board, and when the board contracts the resiliency of the bolt will restore the latter to their formerbent condition, and as a consequence of this automatic action no damage will be occasioned to the board by expansion and contraction. The holes through the strips for the corrugated bolts will be formed by drilling two round holes close together so they will communicate and form an opening which is widest in its horizontal dimensions.

The cracks at the bottom of the board longitudinally may be covered at the ends of the latter by molding strips 14, and this strip may be carried across the front edge of the board to hide the ends of the bolts, and to guard the same against contact with adjacent objects or with the dough being molded and to en able the front edge of the board to be given the proper finish for the molding surface.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 the joints between the strips are tight at all points, and the strips are fastened together by means of straight bolts passing through all of the strips;

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as'new and wish to se cure by Letters Patent of the United States, 1s-

1. A molding-board comprising a plurality of strips having tongues and grooves whereby said strips may interlock and a plurality of bent resilient bolts passing transversely through all of'said strips to lock them together.

2. A wooden molding board having its upper wood face constituting a molding surface and comprising a multiplicity of long narrow strips of comparativelyslight thickness relative to their length and the lengths of which extend in horizontal planes and which are placed edge to edge and extend continuously from side to side of the board, each of said strips having a tongue and a groove on their opposite horizontal longitudinal edges providing interlocking means, the meeting edges of the adjacent strips, above the grooves being in close abutment and the edges in and below the groove being spaced apart throughout their vertical lengths, whereby tight upper and open lower joints are formed, and means exerting a common and uniform pressure against the strips at the front and rear ends of the board and passlng through all the strips between the upper and lower faces thereof to lock the above the groove of all of said strips projecting beyond the edge below the groove to form tight upper oints and open lower olnts, the depth of the grooves being greater than the extension of the tongues into them,

whereby expansion of the board may be permitted without warping of the same, and bent resilient bolts passing transversely throughthe bodies of all of said strips between the top and bottom surfaces thereof to lock them together, and cooperating with said open joints to compensate for the expansion and contraction of the strips.

4:. A wooden board comprising a plurality of strips assembled edge-wise longitudinally, the upper meeting edges thereof being in close abutment and the lower edges of each adjoining pair being spaced apart whereby tight upper and open lower joints are formed giving an even and unbroken surface to the board and preventing warping, and a plurality of bolts freely passing through said strips transversely and secured at the ends thereof to lock the strips together, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Elwood, Indiana, this sixth day of August, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and twelve.

' VILFRED SELLERS. [Ls] lVitnesses ELVIA G. Parsons,

ERNEST DANIELS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

